To increase the chance of catching a large number of fish or other seafood, fisherman sometimes attach multiple hooks onto a single line. The use of multiple hooks has largely been restricted to bait fishing (still fishing) and often required tying several individual hooks to a fishline. Such hooks were in many instances initially tied to short leads, with such leads then being tied to the fishline. Such an arrangement was cumbersome and time consuming.
In sport fishing (cast & retrieve) the use of multiple hooks has largely been neglected inasmuch as in the past, no practical arrangement existed for permitting the fisherman to secure multiple lures to the fishline in an arrangement that prevents such multiple lures from becoming entangled with one another or with weeds and obstructions.
One of the more common ways of connecting one hook to another hook in accordance with the teachings of the prior art involved the use of a rubber tube or a coil spring that is wrapped about the hooks, such as in the manner illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,700,242 and 3,082,563. However, the use of an additional element such as the rubber tube or coil spring for connection has proven to be undesirable in that the tube or spring is difficult to apply and contributes to undesirable clutter and inconvenience. Connectors of this type also have the deficiency of allowing the hook or hooks to move relative to each other in a twisting or sliding motion, as well as the deficiency of permitting one or more of the hooks to get easily snagged or hung up on branches or the like while in the water.
Connectors that do not require additional elements to connect one hook to another include, for example, those illustrated in French Patent No. 1,085,713 to Barreras, which relies on a permanent connection between a leading hook and a trailer hook. A permanent connection has proved to be too restrictive in that there are many situations where it is desirable to remove the trailer hook from the leading hook. For example, a fisherman using a trailer hook system may get a catch on the trailer hook and instead of removing the hook from the catch, will want to detach the trailer hook from the leading hook. By keeping the hook in the catch, it is easier to connect the catch to a fish stringer or the like.
The Porth U.S. Pat. No. 2,700,242 entitled "BAIT HARNESS" shows a multiple hook array, but such an arrangement is complicated and expensive, and is not functional for the purposes of the instant invention.
The Chilton U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,291 entitled "TRAILER HOOK SYSTEM" shows a multiple hook arrangement in which the eye of one hook, identified as the trailer hook, engages the curved portion of the leading hook, with this arrangement preventing undue twisting and sliding of the hooks relative to one another. However, the Chilton arrangement makes no provision for the lures placed on such hooks to reside in a horizontally disposed, essentially lifelike attitude.
The Clark U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,364 entitled "FISHHOOK" reveals a fishhook with what is described as a "return bend" portion designed to resist the sliding of gelatinous lures along the shank of the hook, but the Clark patent teaches nothing regarding the use of multiple hooks clustered in a tangle-free arrangement.
It was in an effort to provide a distinct improvement over these prior art devices that the present arrangement was evolved.